delivered from the curse of the Law 2. In 2 Pet. 1.10 How we may be sure that this deliverance pertaineth to us if we make our calling and faith sure 3. Quid retribuam what we are to performe i. true obedience not secundum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 jus plectorium secundum jus praetorium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not according to the extremity of the Law the Law punishing but according to praeter Law equity and right in Christ Now for the Law naturall we learned in the generall prooemium or preface that we depend of Gods providence and therefore we must thinke of God as of a King For so it is Revel 19.16 and therefore as he hath rewards from us Revel 19.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The King of Kings and Lord of Lords In every law foure things are required 1. The worke 2. The manner 3. The reward 4. The punishment so he hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his worke house to try us in and this is the world Then we being in a work house must have our agenda things we are to doe and the Law being defined doctrina agendorum the doctrine of things which are to be done it is our agenda thing we are to doe And as there are foure things in every Law in mundo in the world so doth this which is Lex creatoris mundi the law of the Creator of the world containe them all 1. The worke this you must doe 2. The manner thus you shall doe 3. Reward in palatio in Court 4. Carcer the prison punishment in the prison All these are in every law and so are they in Gods law In the law of Moses who hath set downe in the decalogue a perfect pandect of all the workes and duties that God requireth at our hands These are the true Ethica Christiana Christian Ethickes passing all others Ethickes In this thing are they of the Church of Rome to be commended that teaching their youth Logicke Physicke and Metaphysicke three yeeres because they are not compleately to be found in these bookes referre them to these bookes for Ethiks propter regulam morum for the rule of manners For this is the just square of all our actions it ought neither to be longer or shorter then this This law was given by Moses saith he here Gods Law is the rule of our life in regard of the first of the foure things it is called our agenda or things to be done In respect of the other the rule or cubit of the Sanctuary Here may a doubt arise Seeing that the law was not given till 2600 yeeres after the creation it might seeme that men might aswell live still without the Law But to shew how the world was governed by the law and that which is Rom. 2.14 The Gentiles both before and after doing the things that belong to the law are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Law to themselves not to doe what they list but to doe the workes of the Law how that can be it is thus that they had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. they had the effect of the law written in their heart which was equivalent to the law it selfe This he proveth because they had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the accusing or excusing of their thoughts and that they had their conscience for a witnesse to them both Gen. 3. Man is the image of God Col. 1.10 The Image of God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the knowledge of God And therefore Augustine of the Trinity Ioh. 1.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the light shineth in darknesse and the darknesse comprehended it not Psal 119.142 Thy Law is from everlasting as concerning thy testimonies I have knowne long since that thou hast grounded than forever Effectumlegis praestitum esse ante legis traditionem Gen 31.53 Laban sware by the God of Abraham and Nahor and of their fathers but Iacob sware by the feare of his father Isaac lib. 14. ch 14. saith That every man had it in his heart which must be understood after the fall For before it was all perfection Mali multa rectè laudant rectè reprehendunt Quibus regulis hoc faciunt ubi habent hoc quod homines sic vivere debent cum ipsi sic non vivant hae regulae sunt justae mentes corum injustae hae regulae immutabiles mentes eorum mutabiles Evill men praise many things rightly and reprehend rightly upon what ground doe they this where have they this that men ought thus to live and yet they themselves live not so these rules are just their minds unjust these rules unchangeable their minds changeable then he concludeth Vident eas in libro lucis they see them in the booke of truth which truth being in God as a seale maketh a print in the mind of man and yet keepeth it it selfe which print they can never plucke out and so by this meanes all men have the effect of the Law in them To prove that this effect was performed before the giving of the Law For the first Commandement not so manifest Gen. 11.13 by the departure of Terah with Abraham Sarah and Lot out of Vr of the Chaldees from their idolatry into Canaan Gen. 35.2 Jacob said to his houshold and to all that were with him put away the strange Gods that are among you and clense your selves and change your garments For the second ibidem verse 5. where Jacob buried the idols under an Oake More plaine Gen. 31.34 Rachel hid her fathers idols in the Camels straw For the third Gen. 24 3. Abraham made his eldest servant to put his hand under his thigh and sweare by the Lord God of Heaven and earth that he should not take a wife to his sonne of the daughters of the Canaanites among whom he dwelt Gen. 31.53 The solemne oath betweene Laban and Iacob For the fourth Gen. 2.2 God hallowed the seventh day 2600. yeeres before the delivery of the Law God useth not to sanctifie a thing so long before when there shall be no use of it Gen 16.23 Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord bake that to day which ye will bake and seeth that ye will seeth and all that remaineth lay it up to keepe till the morning for you Gen. 2.2 For in the seventh day God ended his worke which he had made and in the seventh day he rested from all his workes that he had made For the fifth Gen. 27.28 Esaus howling and crying for his fathers blessing Verse 41. He stood in aw of his father though otherwise prophane For so long as his father lived he would not kill Iacob For the sixth a plaine precept Gen. 9.6 Whoso sheddeth mans blood by man shall his blood be shed For the seventh Gen. 38.24 Of Thâ—mar whom Iudah would have burned for playing the whore Gen. 34.31 The answer of Simeon and Levi that had put a whole Citty to the sword for their sister
and yet in the same booke in the Epistle of Aristobulus it is said that part of it was translated before the Empire of the Persians was begun long before it came to be translated of the 70. But it appeareth that it hath pleased God in most strange manner in every Nation to leave some Register or Chronicle of this as among the Egyptians Manetho among the Phenicians Sanchoniatho among the Chaldees Berosus in Asia minor Abidenus among the Persians Metasthenes among the Gentiles Histaspis Hecataeus Euemerus Alexander polyhistor In the second booke of Herodotus we shall finde that notable miracle that God wrought on Senacherib though somewhat corrupted the edict of Cyrus almost the whole prophecie of Daniel 11. booke of Josephus as Augustine lib. 8. de civit Dei Alexander being in Babylon and purposing to build an Image to Belus and certaine of the scattered Jewes which were then the cunningest workemen refusing to build an Image to any Idoll of the Heathen vowed to roote out cleane all the Nations of the Jewes but he was soone appeased by Iaddus the High Priest for he hearing of the Kings vow met him in peaceable manner in Aarons attire whom as soone as Alexander saw he fell downe before him and worshipped him and presently gave over his purpose And being demanded the cause of so sudden change of his purpose answered that Hiaddus appeared unto him in the same likenesse of that God which appeared to him bidding him to conquer the whole world in the very same attire that that man ware After those daies by the meanes of Ptolomey and his Embassage to Aristobulus and his great Library in Alexandria the Jewes religion was dispersed Laâ—rtius in the life of Epimenides which agreeth with Act. 17. The Athenians being visited with a strange plague and asking counsell of the Oracle how to rid themselves of it the Oracle sent them to Epimenides He told them that they were not to seeke to their owne God but to another God for it was another above all their Gods that sent them this plague and it was onely to be driven away by Sacrifice They making offer to discharge themselves of this offered Sacrifice the plague neverthelesse continuing they were faine to send to Epimenides the second time to know in what manner they should sacrifice and where he counselled them to let the beasts goe whither they would and in that place where they should stand still there to sacrifice them to that God that had sent them that plague The beasts went on with the Sacrifice on their backe untill they came to Mars his streete and comming to a faire plat there stayed where they built an Altar and dedicated it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 17. to the unknowne God The like is in the Romane histories the Romans having got a great victory over their enemies after built a Temple and consecrated it to peace and demanding of their Oracle how long it should continue word was given them that it should endure quoad virgo peperit till a Virgin should beare a child which because they thought it would never be they set this inscription upon the doore Templum pacis aeternum The everlasting Temple of peace And about the time that Christ was borne in the shutting on an evening it fell downe to the ground without any helpe Thus much for the Antiquity both by them whose writings yet remaine and fathers as also by the Heathen themselves that proposition alwaies holding Quod primum verum What is most ancient is true 2. Argument The continuance of it The second argument from the continuance of preservation of it most miraculously as that the religion that commeth from man or any false God cannot have the like whereas we see the Jewes continued in captivities under other nations more then any as under the Philistins Moabites Amorites Persians Romans Egyptians and yet in all these it hath continued So also the people round about them Especially the victorers nature being to turne the religion and lawes of the conquered to his owne bearing a deadly hate to them and their religion And Antiochus bending himselfe wholly to destroy all the copies of the Law and yet hath it beene so wonderfully preserved as not one jot of it hath at any time perished We see that the chiefest men in Philosophy Physicke Law c. have left their schollers behind them to renâ—w their writing their workes have beene countenanced of mighty men as much as could be all meanes in the world hath beene used for the preservation of them yet most of their writings have beene lost some have come to the posterity unperfect or very corrupt On the other side there hath beene extreme contempt of the Jewes their enemies intent alwaies to subvert them and their religion as also a purposed malice of the Jewes themselves against their owne religion All meanes possible used to the subverting of it yet as yet it hath continued So that there is not a materiall point that feareth the sifting either concerning manners or faith so that we may say Hîc Dei digitus here is the finger of God for time leaveth her markes in humane things And though there be differences in the divers taking of things and in the divers forme of words yet they tend all to one end There is no materiall difference about any materiall point so that it mattereth not which of all the waies it be taken The like may be said concerning the whole manner of their religion They never changed their religion customes or lawes being in captivity in divers strange Lands whereas any other Nation being instituted in a strange religion strange customes and Lawes useth to alter her owne and give her selfe to that other religiâ—n 3. The certainty of Christian religion The third thing the certainty That whereas other writings are brought into question or are imperfect or not authenticall but counterfeits The perfectest of all mans writings fals into one of these In it 1. no imperfection Impossible that man should take away the least part in the Christian religion without the destruction of the whole 2. No contradiction or include contradictions but this religion can fall into none of these Therefore this religion must needs be the religion of God 1. For imperfection It is a certaine note that when any thing commeth from man it groweth by little and little untill it come to perfection no such thing in this For in the delivery of the Law all was delivered at once most absolutely in the 10. Commandements under which there is no duty but may be sensibly contained to which nothing hath beene or could be added nothing be detracted without the cleane overthrow of the whole onely writers have explained them which because man cannot doe in his writings it must needs be from God 2. For contradictions Paul 2. Cor. 1. The words of man are sealed with etiam non yea and no but the writings of
also have observed and may be reduced to these six First as the Jewes say in every Commandement there is praeceptum faciens an affirmative precept and praeceptum non faciens a precept negative if the Commandement be affirmative it implieth also his negative and contrarily according to the rule of Logicke à contrariis taken from contraries Si hoc sit faciendum ejus contrarium fugiendum if this be to be done then his contrarie is to be shunned Psalm 34.14 Fuge malum fac bonum Eschew evill and doe good the practise of this rule The affirmatives of the law are but two namely the fourth and fifth Commandements These the Rabbins finde in the books of Moses dilated into 248. Commandements affirmative which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Precepts commanding to the number of joynts in a mans body And the negatives in the same five bookes of Moses into 365 negative Commandements which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 precepts forbidding to the number of the daies in the yeere both added together make 613. according to the letters of the ten Commandements 2. That wheresoever a thing is either forbidden or commanded 2. Rule there all the homogenea of the same kinde to it are commanded or forbidden The same may be seen in mans law A law is extended vel specificè vel per aequipollens specifically or by a thing of like force and valew Specifically Cum quid sit ejusdem naturae circumstantiis diversum when a thing is set downe that is of the same kind but by circumstance is diverse 2. By equipollent The Rabbins call it by two names 1. Where the ballances hang equall the Logicians call it à pari from the like As in the Commandement of theft to set a mans house on fire is as evill as to steale 2. Where one is either lighter or heavier from the lesse to the greater If a man be bound to honour his superiour then much more to preserve him The third is peculiar to the law of God Ro. 7.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. Rule the law is spirituall c. When you have extended this specifice per aequipollens specifically and by equipollent they must be extended to the spirit Lex humana ligat manum linguam divina verò comprimit animam The Law of man ties the hand and the tongue but the law of God presseth the soule John 4.23 the true worship of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in spirit and truth And the reason is good for the heart is the fountaine for all evill è corde cogitationes malae out of the heart come evill thoughts This appeared in the heathen by the dreame of Polydorus in Plutarch de sera numinis vindicta of the grievous punishment of God that dreamed in the night that his heart came to him and said Ego tibi horum omnium malorum sum author I am unto thee the authour of all these evils The heart therefore is first to be cleansed by truely planting the feare of God in it and the knowledge of him Plutarch said that the heathen if they could they would have restrained the heart but because they could not come to it they forbare it The law of man by reason of it ceaseth two waies 1. For want of knowledge because they know not the heart 2. For want of power as where the number of the offenders is so great or the power so great that there is no standing against thē And upon these must needs come both tolerations in the Church Common-wealth For want of knowledge as when things are so subtilly and slylie conveyed that one cannot tell where the fault is or how it may be remedied But in Gods law neither of these holdeth and therefore there is no fault tollerable with him For his power Jerem. 17.9 Cor hominis pravum inscrutabile quis cognoscit idem the heart of man is wicked and unsearchable who knoweth it And in the next verse scio I know he sheweth that there is a quis who and who it is that knoweth it Ego dominus scrutans renes corda I the Lord who search the reines and the hearts There is no defect of knowledge in God for he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the knower of hearts August If the Candle burne videt te he sees thee if it be out videt te he seeth thee he seeth all thy faults both present and past and thy thoughts too 7 Degrees in sin before we come to the act A desire to looke on it a little longer Therefore in this point it s justly said that the law is spirituall Now for the thought it may be divided into seven branches or stations 1. Cogitatio ascendens the thought ascending the very suggestion 2. Inclinatio voluntatis the inclination of the will to give entertainment to that thought 3. Mora a delay in the thought 4. A delight which commeth of the conceiving of it 5. The desire of the feeling in outward act of the inward pleasure agreeable to the outward act 6. The consent of the heart to the practise 7. The deliberation of many meanes and the choosing of some one to bring it to passe The law of God taketh hold of all these though mans law doth not The fourth rule of extension is 4. Rule that which the law of man hath made Cum quid prohibetur prohibentur illa omnia per quae pervenitur ad illud contra when any thing is prohibited all things which lead thereunto are also prohibited and on the other part The Jewes say ambulandum est in praeceptis we must walke in the Commandements not by any out-path but viâ regiâ by the Kings high way that is by those meanes and instruments that God hath commanded the reason is Bonum pendet à fine A good thing dependeth upon the end The goodnesse of a way or motion dependeth of the end So that if these or these meanes bring to an evill end they are evill and so consequently are not to be used in good things neither are we in them to seeke God Psalm 1. Nor stood in the way of sinners The way is the meanes So with the act we conclude the meanes So if the thing be good the omission of it as also of the meanes is evill Bonae legis est non solùm tollere vitia sed etiam occasiones vitiorum and contrariwise Good lawes do not onely prevent vices but the occasions of vices The fifth rule is a rule also of man Cum quid prohibetur 5. Rule vel jubetur prohibentur vel jubentur illa omnia quae consequuntur ex illo When any thing is prohibited or commanded then all the consequences thereof are prohibited or commanded That is the signes and outward notes of things ante before namely where the good thing is commanded there is also the signe of it commanded And contrariwise when it pleaseth the Holy Ghost to condemne pride
he will not give to his Master all his strength non accuratè agere as the Poet saith but be servus glis not like to Jacob Gen. 31.40 nor to them Prov. 31.15 rise early and verse 18. get up in the night Therefore Matth. 25.26 the slothfull decrease but Prov. 12.24 the diligent increase 4. Unwillingnes and murmuring Fourthly Ephes 6.7 when they doe it unwillingly which when they must doe it will not doe it with commendation Therefore they must doe it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with all thine heart Col. 3.23 not murmuring Tit. 2.9 but as the Poet saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doe as the Centurions servant Matth. 8. hee heard Goe and hee went presently Fifthly deceitfull diligence onely at their pleasure eye-service 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes 6.6 Col. 3.22 but it must be done with singlenesse least the cheife Master be displeased And if they doe it so he will reward them with another reward 2. For Prudentia or Discretion 2. Prudentia the distinctions of servants which the Philosophers have First one can doe no more then that which he is taught to doe and this is like a bleared eye of which a man would gladly be ridd but that he cannot spare his sight Secondly the other is such as Luke 12.42 knoweth his Masters will and then as the Steward would doe for himselfe Luke 16. so must he cast for his Master in due time and season Gen. 31.38 as did Jacob so shall he prosper with Joseph Gen. 49.2 2. Duty of the Master The second duty of the Master is not to be asper rigorous Levit. 25.43 but Col. 4.1 he must governe with justice and equity for they are conservi fellow servants also and servants are humiles amici humble friends as one calleth them And though it cannot be said to us as to the Iewes Remember that yee were servants yet as the Poet saith in futuro remember that you may be servants and therefore Quod tibi vis fieri doe as you would be done by But if the servant will not understand then Pro 19.29 he must be corrected Offiâ—â— seve and thereto be subject 1 Pet. 2.8 3. Duty of Master The third duty is Pro. 31.27 to provide for them abundantly meate and cloth Pro. 31.2 Mat. 25.27 When he hath done well let him be preferred and before the going downe of the Sunne be partaker of the fruit of his hands Deut. 15.12 c. Exod. 21.6 Jer. 34.14 Levit. 25.39 after he is free and the time of his service expired his wages must not remaine in thine hand so that on both sides there be mutuall duties to bee performed on both sides The contrary to which is that Pro. 29.4 Bribery and not friendship which prophecy of Solomon was fulfilled in his servant Jeroboam to his sonne Rehoboam And thus much of these three duties Now to the other division For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or ordinance is either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 divine preparers or Masters of Schooles Pastors for the Soule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Humane Teachers and Schools their institution c. For the Preparers and Schooles The ground of this is in the Prophets where as 2 Kings 2.3 one telleth Elisha that his Master shall be taken from him and verse 12. he himselfe calleth him Father This is to be a Father by Regeneration And it is that which the Heathen make their eloquence so saith Philosophy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And as Elisha being for the Ecclesiasticall use called him Father so the young King being for the Politick use 2 Kings 13.14 calleth him Father So seeing he is the Father both of those that are in the Church and in the Common-wealth he hath his maintenance from both from the Church 2 King 4.42 from the Civill body 2 Kings 8.9 Pâ—nis scholaruâ—â— c. The end of Schooles The end of this is Esay 8.16 That the Law might be sealed in the Disciples 2 Pet. 3.16 There bee those that be unlearned that corrupt these seales and those which be not grounded which counterfeit others So that his Seale might remaine he will set it in the Schoole Hosea 6.5 that men might hereby be made fit to build the House of God Ut dolentur homines bee made fit matter For as it is Ephes 4.18 there is a naturall blindnesse of heart in every one so that the taking away of this is a speciall part of this function So saith Balaam Numb 24.14 15. that he was borne clausis oculis with his eyes shut Jer. 10.14 Every man is a beast in his owne knowledge c. But Audiendo verbum sentiebat artem sic veniebat vidit locutus est At the first they were called Seers 1 Sam. 9.8 yet they would not be so called but Dophim that is Speculators seeing in a glasse some things that others saw not Institutio hujâ—â— anteâ—lâ—gâ—â— Institution of this before the Law Numb 10. toward the end Gen. 8. and Num. 11.28.14 There must be Elders they must have the spirit put on them that is nothing else but to take the spirit which he hath and to give it to another The word in Hebrew Esay 58.9 signifieth a peaceable learning as Rom. 10. Plentifulnesse of wisedome and that is 1 Cor. 14.3 to edifie exhort and comfort not to foretell things only for that was extraordinary and is now ceased and so is not the prophecie there meant for then we should perish that have it not as the wise man saith Then they had both Levites and Nazarites that is such as of any other Tribe were given to the service of GOD in his Church And of these their Colledges stood Amos 2.11 and also of many other good Students such as was Moses his servant Joshuab which tarried alway about the Tabernacle that is plying his study and so became so excellent Exod. 33.11 when they came to the Land of promise they found a City of Bookes which after they called the City of God least the Bookes should be thought the cheife cause of Prophecie After they had Mispat Gilgall and Bethel 1 Sam. 10.11 where Saul was wondred at for being among the Prophets It is manifest that they acknowledged it to be extraordinarily and so that there was an ordinary meanes to Prophecie After this when Samuel left the Rule he went againe to his Fathers calling and built a Colledge at Rhamah and was Master of it himselfe And this continued till the Captivity When they had places likewise to study in and left behinde them there that learning that was there to be had So that it hath beene from the beginning to Christ and Christ accepteth of that name which was for a Teacher Rabbi and calleth his Disciples Scholers John 15.8 Mat. 12.4 Mark 10.42 he will reward a cup of cold water that is bestowed on these And by that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how he came to be so learned